On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 21:46:31 GMT, Dan Best wrote:

I've really resisted jumping into this one, but....



This weekend in Olympia, Washington State, is the Harbor Days
festival. During Harbor Days are the well-known tug boat races. As a
sailor, I understand bow waves, hull speeds, and displacement hulls.
It is a pretty good bet that the 70' tug will beat the 35' tug. I
think the longer tug could win with the engine just above an idle.

But it is really amazing to watch the bow wave dynamics in action.
A 30 foot tug with 600 horsepower can build a HUGE bow wave and still
not pass its hull speed. The waves generated in this race are far
greater than the waves from cargo ships that are 10 times as long and
1,000 times larger.